LEE COUNTY — All of the roosters seized during a cockfighting bust on Tuesday that found 676 chickens living in two Lee County homes will be euthanized, according to Lee County officials.
The remaining chicks and hens are being evaluated and those found to be aggressive will be euthanized, Lee County Domestic Animal Services officials said.
“The decision has always been that (the roosters) will be euthanized,” said Dr. Melinda Merck, the senior director of veterinary forensic sciences for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “The best way to be humane to them is to euthanize,”
Merck is widely respected for her work on the Michael Vick dog-fighting scandal.
A team from the ASPCA, Lee County domestic animal services and the University of Florida Shelter and Medicine Program is hoping to adopt out some hens and chicks, but fear their blood lines may be too violent.
The eight-month cockfighting investigation uncovered more than 600 chickens at the home of William Roman, 54, 17130 Kentara Way, in east Lee County. Two turkeys, a chihuahua and three horses were also recovered from Roman’s home.
More than 50 chickens and a pit bull were seized from the home of Pedro Lopez, 1530 Apollo Drive in Fort Myers.
“With the hens and chicks, we are in the process of evaluating them for a possibility of placement options,” Merck said. “Details will follow shortly about them being available for adoption.”
The bust was called “the largest cockfighting ring in the state of Florida, and possibly in the country” by Sgt. Mike Shelly with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
“What often happens in cock fighting, because they are very secretive, it’s important to understand that we seek info from several sources,” said Adam Leath, Chief of Animal Control at the Lee County Domestic Animal Services. Leath worked with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to evaluate the anonymous tip given to deputies in the Dunbar Community Policing Unit about suspicion of cockfighting.
“It’s not something we saw and decided to act upon. We were able to get the information that led us to believe that there were a large number of housed chickens, and a large number housed for the purpose of fighting,” Leath said.
According to Leath, the birds were “conditioned and routinely altered, chemically and physically.”
The roosters were given anabolic steroids to trigger and prolong their natural instinct to protect their territory from other roosters, Merck said. Inside the Kentara Way home, there were medical supplies for performance enhancing drugs, supplements, and drugs for medical treatment.
“There’s different things to do to enhance aggression towards other birds,” said Merck. “They’ll use vitamins, anything to increase stamina and energy level, to go longer and harder. Anabolic steroids are not good for any animals, in fact, anything that’s used too much and for too long can cause bodily harm.”
The evaluations have revealed injuries consistent with those seen in roosters involved in cockfighting, such as, lacerations, punctures on the body, wings and legs and even injuries to the eyes.
If, during a fight, a rooster pauses and does not continue to peck at the opponent with its beak or the metal points attached to its feet or head, it is coaxed by its owner to continue to fight, until one cannot physically fight any longer or dies.
The deceased bird is then considered a failure on the owner and is disposed of in the nearest trash can or dumpster or burned. The injured winner is then crudely “treated” with no real medical knowledge or any pain medication, Leath explained.
Roman and Lopez have been charged with animal cruelty, animal fighting and baiting, and housing distressed animals.
“This type of behavior won’t be tolerated in this county and we are dedicated to see this through all the way to prosecution,” Leath said.
In Florida, cockfighting, the possession of birds for cockfighting, being a spectator at a cockfight and possession of implements for cockfighting are third-degree felonies and are punishable by up to five years in jail and a maximum $5,000 fine.
“It is rudimentary the most brutal form of animal cruelty ,” said Adam Leath.
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Comments » 20
gt writes:
Call Campbell's Soup, they've been taking old hens and unwanted chickens and roosters for years Best of all they'll pay you for them.
SwampRatt writes:
Giving the chickens vitamins & steroids? Isn't that what the big chicken producers do anyways too the chickens we eat? Drop the roosters off at hooters and have them run a special during football Sundays.
Trexler writes:
Wow, how shameful,...I've been to a few cockfights but they were on Craigslist.org...
eVe (Inactive) writes:
Fighting bad, deep frying good. Arrest the pot smokers!
Keats writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Hollywoody writes:
That's a bunch of roosters. Does Pam Anderson know about this?
ladycat writes:
I have to wonder how many fighting chickens (games) they really did get.
I looked at the large version of the photos. You can see chickens in 3 of them. Photo #1 is a little hard to make out but seems to be a game. #11 definitely IS. But #2 is NOT a fighting rooster. That one is some different breed altogether.
The man they seized those from may have a collection of various breeds, and they took all of them instead of just the games.
But of course it sounds better if they can say they seized over 600 fighting chickens.
MautheDoog writes:
...........yawn..........
Funshine writes:
600 fighting roosters in the Dunbar (urban) area and the police had to rely on a tip from a citizen.....600 cockadoodledo he-chicks with mature feathers, talons, a crow...and the cops did not notice! Wow what else is going on there and the cops don't notice?
biomanogt writes:
Look for the 2 for 1 sale at nMarket next week!
biomanogt writes:
that should be Boston Market!
milo writes:
ANYONE WHO THINKS ANY FORM OF ANIMAL ABUSE IS FUNNY IS A STUPID, IGNORANT, BACKWARD, LOW LIFE PUNK. ANIMAL, CHILD AND SPOUSE ABUSERS USUALLY HAVE SERIOUS LOW SELF ESTEEM AND ARE BASICALLY FAILURES IN REAL LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS.THEY TAKE OUT THEIR FRUSTRATIONS ABOUT THEIR LOSER SELVES BY HURTING AN ANIMAL, A KID OR A WIFE. A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN THAT NEEDS TO BUILD HIMSELF UP BY HURTING A DEFENSELESS PERSON OR ANIMAL.THEY SHOULD JOIN THE MARINES OR SEALS IF THEY WANT TO BE TOUGH GUYS; ONLY PROBLEM IS THEY PROBABLY COULDN'T BE AROUND REAL MEN WITHOUT GET THEIR BUTTS KICKED EVERY DAY. PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A MAN.
DamYankee writes:
Uhhhhh, you want fries with that whine?
milo writes:
GT AND CHICKENDOG SHOULD GO STEADY. THEY SOUND LIKE TWO MORONS. PROBABLY DRAFT DODGER TYPES.
ricky369 writes:
If you don't agree with this practice, is your right. Plus, It is illegal in the USA. But you need to wake up to reality. Your comment is full of of BS. There are places where cockfights are legal. And there are many WOMEN who love to go and even have their own roosters. We are soooo civilized, that we complaint about roosters fighting but then we have MMA.
susana456 writes:
Looks like a bit of cockfighting going on here on this board!
KR writes:
Feed the hungry in Lee and Collier with them!
personalj writes:
cockfighting is legal in Puerto Rico.
wrightconnection writes:
Nobody forces these guys to fight in MMA. They do it by choice without drugs. How is that even relevant?
BIGBONE writes:
I believe you touched my funny bone...the animals fight each other...it is in their nature...you should write a book... with your knowledge you couldn't fill a thimble...ha ha ha
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